Cash News
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices traded to a record high on Wednesday, peaking north of $93,400 in a continuation of the crypto rally following Donald Trump’s election win last week.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency, which has been at the center of the “Trump trade” catalyzing moves across a range of assets, is up more than 30% since Election Day.
The price of bitcoin has more than doubled this year.
Investors have flocked to bitcoin and other digital assets under the presumption that Trump will follow through on his pro-crypto campaign promises.
The president-elect has suggested appointing a crypto Presidential Advisory Council, firing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, and creating a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”
Other cryptocurrencies also rose on Wednesday, including ethereum (ETH-USD), solana (SOL-USD), and even dogecoin (DOGE-US). The meme coin soared after Trump said Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would be in charge of a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE for short.
The upward move in bitcoin on Wednesday appeared more isolated to cryptocurrencies than in prior sessions.
Crypto-related equities — including names like Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD) — weren’t participating alongside bitcoin’s run to record levels and appeared to take a breather after recent runs higher, with Coinbase stock off about 2% on Wednesday and Robinhood little changed.
While investors may be eyeing targets of $100,000, some Wall Street analysts continue to warn clients about the “speculative” nature of cryptocurrencies, which cannot be valued on earnings or future cash flows in the same way as most stocks.
“We continue to view crypto assets as a speculative trade rather than a strategic investment in portfolios,” UBS Global Wealth Management chief investment officer Americas Solita Marcelli said in note on Tuesday.
“We are skeptical that crypto assets can make significant inroads in meaningful and disruptive real-world use cases, and they can significantly raise a portfolio’s volatility,” Marcelli added.
The firm highlighted that since 2014, there have been three major drawdowns surpassing 70% in bitcoin, from which it has taken an average of three years to recover.
Read more: Bitcoin clears another record — is it a good time to invest?
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.
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